Latest Medical News from Bio-Medicine.Org

Many Still Tanning, Despite Dangers, Survey Finds

Sun, 27 May 2012 06:21:26 MST

SUNDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Despite public education efforts, many young adults still don't understand the dangers of sun exposure and tanning, a new U.S. survey finds. The nationwide online survey conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology found that 58 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 believe people look more attractive with a tan, and 71 percent agreed wi...

Physical Education Is Good for Kids' Grades, Study Finds

Sun, 27 May 2012 06:20:43 MST

SUNDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Boosting students' levels of physical education improves their grades, a new, small study says. Swedish researchers followed more than 200 schoolchildren, starting from first through third grade, for nine years. Some children were assigned to an intervention group that received physical education five days a week, plus extra training in mot...

People Who Lived Near World Trade Center Report More Lung Disease

Sat, 26 May 2012 07:50:09 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- People in lower Manhattan whose homes were damaged in the 9/11 terrorist attacks are more likely to have symptoms of respiratory diseases than those whose homes were not damaged, a new study indicates. Thousands of lower Manhattan residents experienced some type of damage to their homes -- such as broken windows and ruined furnishings -- af...

Half of Americans with individual health plans could gain better coverage under the ACA

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:41:23 MST

May 23, 2012, New York, NYMore than half of Americans with individual market health insurance coverage in 2010 were enrolled in so-called "tin" plans, which provide less coverage than the lowest "bronze"-level plans in the Affordable Care Act, and therefore would not be able to be offered in the health insurance exchanges that are being created under the law, according to a Commonwealth Fundsu...

The Science of Tasty Tomatoes Lies in the Chemicals

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:05:49 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they've learned why a ripe, homegrown tomato tastes so much better than the bland supermarket variety. The University of Florida researchers examined chemical profiles of 278 tomato samples representing 152 heirloom varieties, most of which were bred before today's commercial tomatoes existed. The heirloom tomatoes had an une...

Travel to High Altitudes Tied to Crohn's, Colitis Flare-Ups

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:05:34 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- People with inflammatory bowel disease, which includes Crohn's disease and colitis, may be at increased risk for flare-ups when they fly or travel to high altitudes for skiing or mountain climbing, a new study suggests. This complications affected patients with either Crohn's disease (which typically involves the small intestine) or ulcerat...

New prostate cancer screening guidelines face a tough sell, study suggests

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:04:58 MST

Recent recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advising elimination of routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer in healthy men are likely to encounter serious pushback from primary care physicians, according to results of a survey by Johns Hopkins investigators. In a survey of 125 primary care doctors, the researchers found that...

More Mental Health Care Urged for Kids Who Self-Harm

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:41:20 MST

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors have long known that some kids suffering severe emotional turmoil find relief in physical pain -- cutting or burning or sticking themselves with pins to achieve a form of release. But researchers now are questioning whether enough is being done to reach out to these young people and help them b...

Fitness May Boost Survival for Women With Breast Cancer

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:40:56 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Women with advanced breast cancer who have higher levels of fitness during treatment tend to live longer than women with lower levels of fitness during treatment, new research finds. Treatments for breast cancer can weaken women's heart and lung function, according to the study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center, and the impai...

Chemicals in PVC Flooring Can Be Absorbed Into Children's Bodies: Study

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:40:38 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Phthalates in PVC flooring materials can be absorbed by children's bodies, a new study shows. These chemicals -- which are suspected to cause asthma, allergies and other chronic diseases in children -- can be ingested with food, by breathing and through the skin, according to the researchers at Karlstad University in Sweden. Phthalates are...

Most occupational injury and illness costs are paid by the government and private payers

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:40:00 MST

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) UC Davis researchers have found that workers' compensation insurance is not used nearly as much as it should be to cover the nation's multi-billion dollar price tag for workplace illnesses and injuries. Instead, almost 80 percent of these costs are paid by employer-provided health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other disability funds, employees and oth...

Skp2 activates cancer-promoting, glucose-processing Akt

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:01:04 MST

HOUSTON HER2 and its epidermal growth factor receptor cousins mobilize a specialized protein to activate a major player in cancer development and sugar metabolism, scientists report in the May 25 issue of Cell . This chain of events, the scientists found, promotes Herceptin resistance in breast cancer and activation of glucose metabolism (glycolysis), which cancer cells primarily rely on...

Few U.S. Hispanics Screened for Skin Cancer

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:09:08 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Only one in 14 Hispanic adults in the United States has ever been screened for skin cancer, far fewer than the one in four whites screened, a new study finds. Socioeconomic factors such as lack of health insurance and poorer access to health care services are major reasons for this disparity, according to the researchers at The Cancer Insti...

Fewer Stillbirths Among Pregnant Women Vaccinated Against Flu

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:08:45 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who received a flu shot to protect them against the H1N1 swine flu virus had a significantly reduced risk of stillbirth, preterm birth and of having a baby small for gestational age, according to a new study. The researchers examined data from nearly 56,000 single-child births that took place in Ontario, Canada, during the 20...

Amazon Tribe Gives Clues to Heart-Healthy Lifestyles

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:08:31 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Investigating indigenous Amazonian or African peoples who still follow a hunter-gatherer or forager-horticulturist lifestyle is giving new insights into how diet and lifestyle affect the heart as humans age. Two new studies found that these types of hunter-gatherer or foraging peoples have lower increases in blood pressure related to thei...

Can You Hear Me Now?

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:58:46 MST

FRIDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to loud music at a rock concert often results in temporary hearing loss for teenagers, researchers say. A small study by the House Research Institute revealed that 72 percent of teens reported reduced hearing after attending a three-hour show. This type of hearing loss typically disappears within 48 hours, but if it occurs repea...

UC San Diego researchers receive new CIRM funding

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:10:33 MST

Five scientists from the University of California, San Diego and its School of Medicine have been awarded almost $12 million in new grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to conduct stem cell-based research into regenerating spinal cord injuries, repairing gene mutations that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and finding new drugs to treat heart failure and Alz...

Combo Therapy May Help Ease 'Ringing in the Ears'

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:07:29 MST

By Amanda Gardner HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, May 24 (HealthDay News) -- One in five people suffers from tinnitus, the annoying and sometimes severely debilitating condition often referred to as "ringing in the ears," and new research may offer some hope for relief for these patients. Although the condition currently has no cure, researchers in the Netherlands found that c...

Can Your Hear Me Now?

Fri, 25 May 2012 09:06:57 MST

World Health Assembly endorses new plan to increase global access to vaccines

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:46:14 MST

Geneva, Switzerland May 25, 2012 Ministers of Health from 194 countries at the Sixty-fifth World Health Assembly today endorsed a landmark Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), a roadmap to prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through more equitable access to existing vaccines for people in all communities. The GVAP was coordinated by the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration, a group of leading i...